From next year, top European football matches will have to be shown in the UK on the internet at the same time as they are televised live, Uefa has ruled.
The body governing European football also specified that they will have to be shown by the same broadcaster.
In a £83m-a-year deal on UK coverage of the Champions League to be announced soon, BSkyB and ITV are expected to have their existing contracts renewed to share rights to broadcast games live, with the added obligations.
The condition applies to the rights to televise Champions League games in the UK for the three seasons between 2006 and 2009.
In the past, Uefa has allowed clubs to show delayed Champions League coverage and highlights online, but has never allowed live football to be broadcast online.
UK only
Media analysts say Uefa has bowed to European Commission directives to encourage more people to use the internet.
They add that the move opens up potential new revenue streams with advertising and betting partners.
But the broadcasters will have to ensure that only UK viewers can watch the games online.
"It will be another significant step in the development of TV over the internet, which is gathering pace as companies such as BT, the BBC and Channel 4 work towards distributing TV content over broadband," the Brand Republic website commented.
"The development is also significant for handing online sports rights to broadcasters, rather than the leading clubs, which make money by selling highlights packages via their own websites, but have never been given live rights by Uefa."
It added that Sky appeared to be better prepared to move online than ITV, having announced that it will provide a TV-over-broadband service to its premium package subscribers later this year.
The UK industry weekly magazine Broadcast said that Uefa's condition that both broadcasters simulcast the games on the internet "could prove challenging to ITV, whose website has suffered from a lack of investment and focus over the years".
It added: "It would, however, fit with ITV's plans to open up new revenue streams through its newly formed consumer division."
Owen Gibson, writing in The Guardian, said the Uefa proviso was an effort to promote viewing across a range of platforms.
At the same time it would placate European Commission competition authorities, who want to see rights owners promoting the use of mobile phones and the internet to view live sports coverage.
"By tying live television rights to the internet package, Uefa will placate broadcasters who fear that a separate online deal would cannibalise their audience.
"But it may also rile big clubs trying to develop their own online propositions," Mr Gibson commented.
World Cup TV
Over at Fifa, international football's governing body, the head of Fifa New Media, Charles-Henry Contamine, also foresees a future in which TV and internet rights are packaged in a much more integrated way.
He also believes the way in which mobile devices could carry TV broadcasts could revolutionise how rights are sold.
But Fifa has no plans for the time being to allow broadcasters to show World Cup matches live on the internet.
In an interview on 6 July on the SportBusiness website, Mr Contamine said: "Most people will watch the game on the TV.
"You then log on to find out the extra detail - the quotes, the statistics. It is perfect when it plays a complementary role. I mean, we are not going to compete with TV now, are we?"
In May, the FA Premier League said it was considering legal action against internet pirates who streamed live games without paying.
The body has been sending out legal letters in a bid to curb the practice, prompting many sites to shut down.
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